Blanket Forts
by YunaH
Summary: Adrien comes home to find a blanket fort in a bizarre location.


Walking inside the house Adrien takes a moment to carefully place his shoulder bag by the door, the combined weight of his laptop, printed out reference journal papers and the homework he had to grade was murder on his back.

Absently rubbing his shoulder he looks around, taking in the spotless entryway and living room. Marinette must have gone on a cleaning spree again.

Walking around the house he wondered in what bizzare position or location he would find his wife this time. These days she went from bursts of energy to exhaustion in the blink of an eye and tended to fall asleep wherever she had sat down for a break at. He still remembered when he found her on the floor behind the couch, he'd almost had a heart attack thinking she had collapsed or fainted when in reality she had just been down there reaching for a cushion that had fallen and somehow decided that puting said cushion under her head and taking a quick nap was better than spending the next 10 minutes trying to pick herself up.

A quick look around the living room showed no signs of her. The bedroom, workroom and nursery giving similar results. Doubling back he turned around to check the laundry room. As he was walking by the kitchen something caught his eye.

Was that… a blanket propped between the fridge and the center island?

Curious, he walked into the kitchen to check and, sure enough, there was a blanket that connected the counter and the center island creating a canopy for what could only be described as a blanket fort. Right in the kitchen.

He had to admit, the construction was inspired. Two wooden poles (he suspected from the mop and sweep respectively) were taped on either side of the center island with a blue sheet on top, creating not only a perfect little nook but also two hanging flaps that served as walls (or maybe doors?) to the fort.

Carefully he crouched by what he assumed was the entrance and moved the 'door' flap to the side and gaped.

Inside was what had to be every pillow, blanket, throw and quilt they owned. Looking around the space he was amazed at the sheer confyness that emanated from it. There was something so warm and inviting about it that made him want to just take his shoes off and crawl inside. There was no way Marinette had spend however long building this and wasn't currently snuggled in there.

Ah, there she was. By the right side of the fort he spied a bit of black amongst the sea of colorful fabric. She was buried under the blankets, he could have easily missed her if hadn't been looking for her.

Aching to join her he made himself let go of the flap and step back. He made another round of the house, checking every window and door making sure everything was closed and locked. He had no real reason for this but somewhere along the line he'd developed an anxious habit of making sure the house was safe before he could relax. Sometimes when he tried to ignore it he'd wake up in the middle of the night to frantically check the locks only to find everything as they left it before they retired for the day.

Satisfied with his security check he returned to the kitchen. Standing by the blanket fort he toes off his shoes, making a mental note to pick them up later, he kneeled by the entrance flap and moved it aside. Before he went in he took a moment to look for Marinette again to try and decipher roughly what position she was sleeping on, the last thing he wanted was to squish her while he was trying to crawl inside.

Trying to pick her outline from the mountain of pillows and blankets proved to be near impossible, not only was she covered head to toe, she was also under the biggest, fluffiest electric blanket they owned. Resigned, he decided to just be as careful as he possibly could while keeping himself pressed to the other side of the small space.

Slowly, gently, measuring every movement, he crawled inside. Always looking to his right making sure he hadn't disturbed her while he was trying to find a spot for himself.

Finally, once he was inside he relaxed. He'd managed to successfully crawl inside without waking her up.

He moved a couple of pillows around to make himself a suitable little nest and decided to lay on his side so he could look at his sleeping wife. Once he was comfortable he looked over at her. In this new position he could see a bit more of her face peeking under the blankets.

She was the picture of contentment. Small smile on her face, slow breathing, slightly twitching eyes (from what he hoped was a pleasant dream) and all snuggled up in this space she had created for herself.

The combination of this incredibly comfy place with the sound of her breathing, the soft hum of the refrigerator close by and the radiating heat of the electric blanket made him drowsy. Fighting sleep he blinked a couple of times. He had so much he needed to do, he was just planning on sneaking inside to test the cozyness of the fort for himself but now a nap was sounding like a really good idea.

He closed his eyes and let himself succumb to sleep, just for a little while.

He woke up sometime later to the feeling of gentle fingers running through his scalp. Slowly opening his eyes the first thing he saw was the sleepy smile on his wife's face.

Sleep mussed hair and heavy eyes, she was the most beautiful creature on this earth. Struck by how lucky he truly was, he reached up for the hand on his hair, grabbed it and brought it down to his lips so he could kiss her palm. Gently rotating her hand he placed another gentle kiss to the inside of her wrist, placed her hand back on his head and returned her sleepy smile.

"Hi." He said.

"Hi" She said. Eyes crinkling as her smile grew a bit more.

Yawning, she gave him a final scratch behind the ear and let her hand fall to a pillow between them.

Propping himself up on his left arm he moved his right hand to her face. Cupping her cheek he carried her skin with his thumb, she leaned into his touch, humming softly.

"How are you feeling" He asked, taking a moment to look her over. Well, as much of her as he could see.

"M'fine, jus' tired" She said, slurring her words a little.

"I'm glad" he said, while moving his hand from her face, down to her neck, over her shoulder to settle at her waist.

Slowly, so as not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere they had going, he moved down so he could be face to belly with her. It was kind of hard to tell by sight where she ended and the pillows around her began so he used his free hand to feel for her rounded stomach.

Confident he was in the right position, he placed a kiss to her midsection and whispered.

"Hi Emma, are you giving mama a hard time?"

Giggling, Marinette reached down and stroked his head. "She's been alright, she might be sleeping right now, she was moving around alot when I was cleaning."

"Oh? Where you helping mama out then?." He pressed another kiss to her belly and moved up back so he could lay on his side and look into her eyes. He kept his right hand on her belly so he could gently stroke it. Faintly he could feel the baby shifting, it was harder to tell due to the thick blanket covering her.

Sensing this, Marinette lifted the blanket so he could put his hand under it. Pressing his hand on her belly again with only the thin barrier of her shirt he could now clearly feel Emma moving.

Hidden away in this little nook, content and sleepy, they stayed like that for a bit. Marinette running her hand through his hair and scratching the back of his ear. Adrien slowly rubbing circles on her stomach, trying to coax the baby back to sleep.

Suddenly remembering the odd placement of the blanket fort, Adrien asked. "So, lovebug, care to tell me why you built a blanket fort in the middle of the kitchen?"

Blushing, she covered her face with her hands and groaned.

"I... don't know!" She started, "I was just cleaning out the workroom, moving fabric and scraps around minding my own business and then suddenly I'm hungry and I'm thinking that the kitchen is really far and my feet hurt and I don't wanna walk all the way over there and then I realize if the workroom is far the bedroom is even farther and what if once the baby comes I want to have a snack but I'm resting in the bedroom and I'm probably not going to want to move a lot because I just had a baby and you're also going to be tired and because you're going to be taking care of both of us and you're not going to want to move a lot either and… " Suddenly realizing she was rambling she looked at his amused face and blushed harder. Grabbing the edge of her blanket she pulled it up so she could cover her face.

Laughing, Adrien grabbed the edge of the blanket he pulled it gently so he could look at her again. She had an indignant blush covering her face, her freckles standing in stark contrast. She was adorable and he could not resist pressing a quick kiss to her nose.

"Bugaboo, you mean to tell me that even though you were tired and your feet and back hurt pretty much all the time now you still took the time to build the most magnificent blanket fort known to mankind?"

"I mean… I wouldn't say that it's the most magnificent blanket fort of all time… I just wanted to be close to the snacks..."

"Nope! It's amazing, you're amazing and I'm sure our baby thinks it's amazing too."

On cue, little Emma gave a kick felt by both of them, more so by Marinette, if the small wince on her face was anything to go by. Adrien looked down and resumed rubbing her belly.

"Alright babybug, we got it, we're gonna let you go back to sleep, c'mon, stop torturing your mom."

There was a final, gentler movement from Emma before she settled down. They both smiled at each other and settled back down. Content to just be in silence, hidden away in this space made just for the 3 of them.

Later on, at some point, Adrien would brave the outside world again to go get them something to eat as well as retrieve his laptop so they could watch movies inside the fort. Later on, he would retrieve his pending paperwork and get to grading. Later on, Marinette would ask for help getting up so she could finish cleaning the workroom. Later on they would both have to leave the safety of the nest they were in but for now, they just enjoyed spending a lazy afternoon with each other.


End file.
